The present invention relates to a metal laminate gasket, which is made thin and is provided with an elastic auxiliary sealing member.
An automobile engine has been developed to provide high power with light weight. For this purpose, a cylinder head is made of light metal or alloy, such as an aluminum alloy. Also, a cylinder block may be made of such light metal or alloy.
In case the cylinder head or cylinder block is made of light metal or alloy, the cylinder head or cylinder block is easily damaged by pressure. For example, if high pressure is formed around a cylinder bore, the cylinder bore deforms by the high pressure.
In this respect, since a metal or metal laminate gasket is strong against high temperature, the metal gasket has been gradually used for a small size engine.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,272,085, a gasket is formed of one metal plate, wherein an area around a cylinder bore is sealed by a thick metal plate, and an elastic sealing member is formed around a fluid hole.
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,834,399 and 5,054,795, gaskets formed of two plates have been proposed, wherein areas around holes are sealed by one or two sealing means formed on the plates. The gasket can securely seal around the hole as intended. However, the gasket may not properly seal around a hole or cause damages to engine parts, i.e. cylinder head and/or cylinder block, if the engine parts are made of light metal.
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide a metal laminate gasket for securely sealing around a hole without causing damage to engine parts made of light metal or metal alloy.
Another object of the invention is to provide a metal laminate gasket as stated above, which can securely seal around a hole by two different kinds of sealing devices.
A further object of the invention is to provide a metal laminate gasket as stated above, which has light weight and is simple in structure.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a metal laminate gasket as stated above, which can be easily and economically manufactured.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.